The present invention relates to ultrasound imaging and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for performing real-time storage of video ultrasound images as the images are being acquired.
Existing ultrasound systems use videocassette recorders (VCRs) to record and playback lengthy live ultrasound imaging sessions. One problem associated with using VCRs for this purpose is that VCR images are generally of poor image quality. VCR recordings have relatively small dynamic color ranges and low resolution. Moreover, the magnetic VCR tapes degrade over time and are bulky, which are issues that present difficulties when considering how to archive the ultrasound images and how to manage the archived ultrasound images. Another problem associated with videocassette recordings is that the stored images are difficult to convert into other image storage formats and to transfer to other types of storage media. For example, it would be difficult, in terms of the additional hardware and software, to convert VCR ultrasound images into digitally formatted images that could be transferred over a network, such as the Internet, for storage in an on-line database.
In some ultrasound systems, video images are acquired digitally and stored to a storage medium, such as a magnetic disk. However, such systems are used in situations where the image acquisition time is relatively small, i.e., they are not used for lengthy ultrasound imaging sessions. Also, in these systems, the amount of time required to store the digital ultrasound image information is greater than the amount of time required to acquire the ultrasound image information. Thus, storage of the digital ultrasound image information does not occur in real-time. Consequently, this type of configuration is not suitable for storing lengthy ultrasound imaging sessions in real-time.
It would be advantageous to provide the ability to store high-quality digital ultrasound images as they are acquired in real-time and in such a way that the images can be easily and efficiently archived and managed. Convenient and efficient archiving of digital ultrasound images would, in turn, allow high quality digital ultrasound images that have been acquired and stored in real-time to be later accessed in their time-registered digital format. Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus for performing real-time storage of video ultrasound images as the images are being acquired.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for storing digitized video ultrasound images in a digital memory device to enable high quality ultrasound video images to be stored in real-time. The apparatus of the present invention is an ultrasound image acquisition and video storage system that comprises an ultrasound image acquisition component and a digital video storage component. The ultrasound image acquisition component logic acquires ultrasound images over a period of time and converts them into digital video images in real-time as the images are acquired. The digital video storage logic obtains the digital video images from the ultrasound image acquisition component and stores the digital video images in a digital storage device in real-time.
The method of the present invention for storing digital video ultrasound images comprises the steps of acquiring ultrasound images over a period of time, converting the acquired ultrasound images into digital video images in real-time as the images are acquired, and storing the digital video images in a digital storage device in real-time.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, drawings and claims.